Fijiana close in on Top 20 in World Rugby Women’s Rankings powered by Capgemini

Results from the Oceania Rugby Women’s Championship 2022 have led to some changes in the World Rugby Women’s Rankings powered by Capgemini, with the gap between Samoa and Fiji closing and Tonga on the climb.

Having begun their campaign for the Oceania Rugby Women’s Championship title with a record 152-0 win over Papua New Guinea, Fijiana beat Tonga 34-7 and Manusina 31-24 to claim the trophy for the third time and also boost their rating in the world rankings to 54.33 points.

While the 1.71 points Fijiana gained for the pair of victories was not enough for them to improve on 21st position, they are now just 0.38 of a point from breaking into the world’s Top 20 for the first time.

Manusina remain the higher-ranked of the two teams but the narrow defeat to Fijiana has cost them two places and there is now just under four points and a mere four places between the two Pacific rivals.

A reduced rating of 58.01 points has seen Manusina drop to 17th place with Kazakhstan and the Netherlands moving up one place as a result.

Meanwhile, Tonga bounced back from their defeat to Fijiana earlier in the week by recording their biggest-ever win over Papua New Guinea.

The 108-7 victory was worth 0.72 of a point, boosting Tonga’s overall points tally to 42.79. That was enough to send them up three places in the rankings with Kenya, Madagascar and Zambia the sides to lose ground. Papua New Guinea fell two places to 49th in defeat.